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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  24. The water is too ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. file — a document
  3. saw — the tool
  4. clip — a video
  5. clip — for paper
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. saw — the tool
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. file — a line of people
  13. bat — the animal
  14. safe — a strongbox
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. chip — for betting
  17. cold — an illness
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. safe — out of danger
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. chip — to eat
  22. file — a tool
  23. safe — out of danger
  24. cold — not warm

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com